Empire and Leprosy in Colonial Bengal

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-60492-3
Verlag: Routledge India

Buch, Englisch, 252 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 392 g

Leprosy, widely mentioned in different religious texts and ancient scriptures, is the oldest scourge of humankind. Cases of leprosy continue to be found across the world as the most crucial health problem, especially in India and Brazil. There are a few maladies that eventually turn into social disquiets, and leprosy is undoubtedly one of them. This book traces the dynamics of the interface between colonial policy on leprosy and religion, science and society in Bengal from the mid-nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth centuries. It explores how the idea of ‘degeneration’ and the ‘desolates’ shaped the colonial legality of segregating ‘lepers’ in Indian society. The author also delves into the treatments of leprosy that were often transfigured from ‘original’ English texts, written by American or British medical professionals, into Bengali.

Rich in archival resources, this book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of history, Indian history, public health, social history, medical humanities, medical history and colonial history.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Das, Apalak

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations x

Foreword xii

Acknowledgements xiii

List of Abbreviations xvi

Glossary xviii

Introduction 1

1 Colonialism, Legislation and Leprosy: Bengal and Empire 16

2 Objectifying ‘Lepers’, Constructing Identity: Missionaries and Colonial Care in the Leper Asylums of Bengal 57

3 Empire and Institution: Leprosy Research in the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine (CSTM) 115

4 Nationalising Disease: ‘Kustha cikitsha’ and ‘Kustha rogi’ in Bengali Newspapers and Health Periodicals 155

Conclusion 193

Bibliography 206

Index 227

Über Autor(innen)

Apalak Das is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Rani Birla Girls’ College under Calcutta University, India. He did his PhD from the Department of History, Jadavpur University on Leprosy in Bengal in 2022. His research looks broadly at the social history of medicine in colonial India. He was also a former Research Fellow of the History of Medicine Fellowship at the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, for a two-year term, 2017–2019.